Formula 1 Legends, Austria

Believe it or not, this post was started for the previous F episode, but I guess I somewhat overestimated myself and didn't finish it in the end, so it has been hanging around half-written in the Drafts section ever since.

So here we are at attempt number 2. Hopefully we won't have to wait for attempt number 3 to have it actually finished :)

And being that this weekend the new F1 season started, I guess this post is kinda on-spot as well now (It wouldn't have been for the previous F) (and not a bad start at all, with Kimi finishing third).

Just have to share with you this video from yesterday's Press Conference... no one else comes close to such reactions and facial expressions like Kimi ;-))))

And back to the stamps now.
I have a few issues from the Austrian Post (issued in different years), commemorating some of the greatest legends that the F1 world has seen (though I must say I am disappointed there is no Kimi here, but I guess you become a legend once you retire from the sport - though the Hamilton stamp from 2009 proves my theory wrong but oh well...)

first is this huuuge mini-sheet (as absurd as that may sound), issued on 07th June 2006, commemorating 8 great F1 drivers.

Talking in-depth about each and every one of them would be way too much (taking into account there are like 12 more people following below), so just the basics

In the sheet above, you can see:

- Jim Clarke - had won 25 Grand Prix victories, and was F1 Championship twice, in 1963 and 1965.
He was killed in a Formula Two motor racing accident in Hockenheim, Germany in 1968. At the time of his death, he had won more Grand Prix races (25) and achieved more Grand Prix pole positions (33) than any other driver.

- Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss - has been described as "the greatest driver never to win the World Championship". In a seven-year span between 1955 and 1961 Moss finished as championship runner-up four times and third the other three.

- Alain Prost - A four-time Formula One Drivers' Champion. From 1987 until 2001 Prost held the record for most Grand Prix victories and is considered as one of the greatest F1 drivers ever. Schumacher surpassed Prost's total of 51 victories at the 2001 Belgian Grand Prix. In 1999, Prost received the World Sports Awards of the Century in the motor sport category.

- Bruce McLaren - a New Zealand race-car designer, driver, engineer and inventor, whose name lives on in the McLaren team which has been one of the most successful in Formula One championship history. No championships won. He died in an accident during a test-drive on June 2, 1970.

- Jacky Ickx - a Belgian former racing driver who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans six times, achieved eight wins and 25 podium finishes in Formula One, won the Can-Am Championship in 1979 and is a former winner of the Dakar Rally

- Mario Andretti - an Italian-born American former racing driver, one of the most successful Americans in the history of the sport. He is one of only two drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR (the other being Dan Gurney).

- Jackie Stewart - a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland. Nicknamed the "Flying Scot", who competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers' Championships, and twice finishing as runner-up over those nine seasons. (This got me thinking now, cos I have a postcard with a train which says "Flying Scot" - I wonder if it had anything to do with him actually)

- Jack Brabham - was an Australian racing driver who was Formula One World Champion in 1959, 1960, and 1966. He was a founder of the Brabham racing team and race car constructor that bore his name. In the 1966 Formula One season Brabham became the first – and still the only – man to win the Formula One world championship driving one of his own cars.

Next I have this FDC issued on 29 May 2007, featuring again 8 more drivers.

- Phil Hill - was an American automobile racer and the only American-born driver to win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship. He also scored three wins at each of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 12 Hours of Sebring sports car races.

- Gerhard Berger - an Austrian former Formula One racing driver. He competed in Formula One for 14 seasons, twice finishing 3rd overall in the championship (1988 and 1994), both times driving for Ferrari. He won ten Grands Prix, achieved 48 podiums, 12 poles and 21 fastest laps. With 210 starts he is amongst the most experienced Formula One drivers of all time.

- John Surtees - was an English Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver. He was a four-time 500cc motorcycle World Champion – winning that title in 1956, 1958, 1959 and 1960 – the Formula One World Champion in 1964, and remains the only person to have won World Championships on both two and four wheels.

- Graham Hill - was a British racing driver and team owner from England, who was twice Formula One World Champion. He is the only driver ever to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport—the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Indianapolis 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix.

- Gianclaudio Giuseppe Regazzoni - was a Swiss racing driver. He competed in Formula One races from 1970 to 1980, winning five Grands Prix. His first win was the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in his debut season, driving for Ferrari

- Juan Manuel Fangio - was an Argentine racing car driver. He dominated the first decade of Formula One racing, winning the World Drivers' Championship five times.

- Mika Häkkinen (or the Flying Finn - but there seems to be no train card named after him) - a Finnish former professional racing driver. He was the 1998 and 1999 Formula One World Champion, driving for McLaren and has been ranked among the greatest Formula One drivers in various motorsport polls.
Mika came for a visit in Skopje like over a decade ago, while he was still in the F1 business. It was one of those funny parades when a crowd of people gathers, waiting for their idol to come out and wave at them and then they all fall into trance. Cannot recall why I didn't attend this one, but if nowadays lets say Kimi came for a visit, you bet I would be there in the first row :D

- Emerson Fittipaldi , the last one in this set - a semi-retired Brazilian automobile racing driver who won both the Formula One World Championship and the Indianapolis 500 twice each and the CART championship once

And at last - another minisheet, this one issued on 27 May, 2009. "Only' four stamps here :)


- Wolfgang Alexander Albert Eduard Maximilian Reichsgraf Berghe von Trips - was a German racing driver who can probably take the medal for the longest name ever in the sport!

- James Hunt - was a British racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship in 1976. If you haven't seen Rush, then I recommend you do so, even if you are not an F1 fan. A beautifully done movie about the rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda.

- Gilles Villeneuve - was a Canadian racing driver. Villeneuve spent six years in Grand Prix racing with Ferrari, winning six races and widespread acclaim for his performances. His son, Jacques Villeneuve, became Formula One world champion in 1997 and, to date, the only Canadian to win the Formula One World Championship.

- Bernie Ecclestone - the guy whose face used to pop out in every single F1 Broadcast - the former chief executive of the Formula One Group, which manages Formula One and controls the commercial rights to the sport.


So no wonder this couldn't be done in one go But at least attention has been given to those who deserve it, or at least to those I have on these Austrian stamps.

If you wanna take a break from all these people, check out the other entries for today's Sunday Stamps.

Elephants

Hello World! Or at least that teeny tiny part of it that cares about reading this.

It is a vowel letter day, which I decided to dedicated to Elephants as Endangered species portrayed on these two FDC's.

The first one comes from Gabon, where in 1988 a set of 4 stamps was issued, featuring the African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) which is the smallest of the three extant species of elephant, but still one of the largest living terrestrial animals. From an estimated population size of over 2 million prior to the colonization of Africa, the population in 2015 is estimated to be about 100,000 forest elephants, mostly living in the forests of Gabon. Due to a slower birth rate, the forest elephant takes longer to recover from poaching, which caused its population to fall by 65% from 2002 to 2014. It is estimated that the forest elephant could become extinct within ten years.

So even though back then in 1988 this animal was considered an endangered species, seems that 40 years later, nothing has been done about it.

The second FDC comes from Uganda, where in 1983 a set of 4 stamps was issued, this time representing the African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) which is much larger in height and weight than the forest elephant, while the forest elephant has rounder ears and a trunk that tends to be more hairy. The bush elephant has few predators besides humans and while considered to be the most numerous of the three extant elephant species, its population continues to decline due to poaching for ivory and destruction of habitat.

It is said that ivory-seeking poachers have killed 100,000 African elephants in just three years, according to a new study that provides the first reliable continent-wide estimates of illegal kills. During 2011 alone, roughly one of every twelve African elephants was killed by a poacher.

Seriously, nothing can be more evil than a human being. Idiots!

Well I hope others have some more positive stories for today. So go ahead and check out today's Sunday Stamps issue.... and enjoy your Sunday or what is left of it :)

Dogs on Stamps

Hello all from a beautiful springy Sunday!

Unfortunately, I had to miss the previous edition of Sunday Stamps (which most probably would have seen a bunch of cats featured here), but here I am back for the letter D, which kinda logically would feature a bunch of dogs :)) If I was about to list the subjects I have mostly featured on stamps, both dogs and cats would rank rather high.

So here today I would like to present you a small part of my dogs stamps' collection, consisting of stamps only, and excluding anything like covers, FDCs or maxicards - I will leave those for another occasion.

First is a set of 6 Bulgarian stamps issued in 1991, featuring 6 drawings of small breeds of domestic dogs:

- the Japanese Chin, also known as the Japanese Spaniel, is a dog acknowledged for its importance to Japanese nobility;
- the Chihuahua, which the smallest breed of dog and is named after the state of Chihuahua in Mexico;
- the Pinscher a small breed of dog originating from Germany;
- the The Yorkshire Terrier, a small dog breed of terrier type, developed during the 19th century in Yorkshire, England, to catch rats in clothing mills;
- if I'm not mistaken, this should be a Chinese crested dog
- the Pug, a breed of dog with physically distinctive features of a wrinkly, short-muzzled face, and curled tail.

Next is the Croatian edition of Children's world stamps issued in 2013, and I am kinda surprised that I haven't posted this one here yet.
Four different cuties here:

- the Bichon Frise - a small breed of dog of the bichon type which is a member of the Non-sporting Group of dog breeds in the United States, and a member of the Toy Dog Group in the United Kingdom. A very cute puppy, very likable and sociable. Extremely adaptable, cheerful and animated, bichon has gained many admirers since it appeared in the beginning of 70-ies of the last century as a relatively unknown breed.
- the Golden Retriever - a large-sized breed of dog bred as gun dogs to retrieve shot waterfowl such as ducks and upland game birds during hunting and shooting parties, and were named 'retriever' because of their ability to retrieve shot game undamaged
- the German Shepherd - a breed of medium to large-sized working dog that originated in Germany.
- and another cute Yorkshire Terrier

while we are at it, my favourite reference to Golden Retriever up to this day is this one :D

Next is a sheet of 3 North Korean stamps issued in 1977 but unfortunately I couldn't figure out the dog breeds, except that they all should be some kind of domestic dogs. If anyone has some more information, please let me know.

Six lovely stamps from Portugal, dating back to 1981, issued for the 50th Anniversary of the Dog Breeding Union.

- the Portuguese Pointer (15.00) - a breed of dog developed as a gun dog. It is one of several pointing breeds and is mainly used in red-legged partridge hunting;
- the Serra de Aires (8.50) - a medium-sized breed of dog of the herding dog type, and is one of the indigenous regional dogs of Portugal.
- the Portuguese Water Dog (7.00), or cão de água, originally from the Portuguese region of the Algarve, from where the breed expanded to all around Portugal's coast, where they were taught to herd fish into fishermen's nets, to retrieve lost tackle or broken nets, and to act as couriers from ship to ship, or ship to shore;
- the Serra de Estrella (33.50), or the Estrela Mountain Dog - a large breed of dog which has been used for centuries in the Estrela Mountains of Portugal to guard herds and homesteads;
- the Castro Laboreiro (25.50), the Portuguese Cattle Dog or Portuguese Watch Dog, is a dog breed of the livestock guardian dog type, originating from Castro Laboreiro in the northern mountains of Portugal;
- the Portuguese Podengo (22.00) - an ancient multi-sensory hound (sight and scent) breed of dog from Portugal.

and the last part of today's post is dedicated to these four adorable dogs on stamps from Romania, issued in 2012.

- the Carpathian Shepherd Dog (Ciobănesc Românesc Carpatin) - a breed of large sheep dogs that originated in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania;
- the Romanian Mioritic Shepherd Dog (ciobănesc românesc mioritic),  a large breed of livestock guardian dogs that also originated in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania;
- the short-haired dachshund - a short-legged, long-bodied, hound-type dog breed.
- and here we also have another Golden Retriever

Speaking of dogs, I love them all, but I have a soft spot for stray dogs, while when it comes to dog breeds, it is the Rough Collie which is in my heart, since I literally grew up with one, called Ares, and later even had one of my own, called Eddie.This is one of my favourite pictures with Ares, dating back from 1985 or 1986.

well, no more rambling from me today. It is time to check what the others have come up with for today at Sunday Stamps.

Butterflies, Nicaragua

We seem to be having a little snow this morning, but the kind that just fools you and never really stays so you just cant be joyful about it. Speaking of which, we haven't had any real snow this winter, unlike the previous one, when there had been snow in abundance, but of course, I wasn't here to see it.

Anyway, today's post has nothing to do with no, and is nowhere close to letter S, but being at letter B, here we have two Butterflies' sheets, that I actually totally overlooked when the theme of the week was butterflies, and it has been haunting me ever since, so no wonder it is the first thing that crossed my mind for the day :D

Plus I realized that this makes it my first post with Nicaraguan stamps, so I'll drink to that too :)

These were issued in the year 2000, showing different types of butterflies in Nicaragua. It is actually astonishing how many different types are out there, to me they are all just fragile and beautiful, but I could never really make any differentiation.

The first sheet above shows butterflies that can be found in The Mombacho Nature Reserve, and features the following beauties:

- Catonephele numilia also known as the blue-frosted banner, or Grecian shoemaker
- Marpesia marcella or pansy daggerwing
- Heliconius hecalesia, or the five-spotted longwing
- Actinote thalia
- Doxocopa laurentia or the turquoise emperor
- Napeogenes tolosa mombachoensis or the Tolosa tigerwing

In general, I would choose as a favourite something where the blue colour is dominant, but in this case, my absolute favourite is the first stamp - it is just full of splendour!

And down to the other sheet now, which features butterflies that can be seen in the Bosawás Biosphere Reserve.

- Heliconius cydno or the cydno longwing
- Nessaea aglaura or the common olivewing
- Godyris zavaleta or the Zavaleta glasswing,
- Caligo atreus or the yellow-edged giant owl
- Morpho amathonte  - and without a doubt this one is my absolute favourite here. I mean I just couldn't ask for more blue on a single butterfly ❤❤❤
- Eryphanis polyxena lycomedon

So that would be my B-contribution for today (could also use it under 'feeling Blah' but so far I haven't seen such stamps).

For more interesting stamps for today, head over to today's edition of Sunday Stamps!

PS. I have to thank Sissel for sending me these back from her trip in Nicaragua, cos she thought I may like them - I mean, of course I do :)))

Angry Birds, Finland

So a new round of the A-Z game starts today, and let's see how well I do this time. I just have this feeling that this second round is gonna bring more creative and out of the ordinary posts that won't just stick to country names, but would go way beyond that. At least I thought I'd try that way and see what I can come up with.

And I will officially open this second round with the super duper cool Angry Birds!

Don't know about you, but I LOVE video games, though nowadays I play way less than I used to some years ago, which may be a bit ironic cos now video games are literally available on all of your devices and you can play them on the go unlike before. I grew up with Super Mario and Adventure Island and Prince of Persia and JetPac and Colin McRae and a plethora of other stuff. Nowadays you can mainly see me playing Candy Crush. I actually was really against all those FB games until a few years ago when during this really tough part of my life I kinda gave in and used it in order to keep my mind off things. And somehow it grew on me cos of all those bright colours and the overall cheerful tone it has. It is one of my guilty pleasures, ha ha.
And back to the Angry Birds, I used to play this one a lot on my phone, but nowadays due to the never-ending issue of memory and storage, I have decided to not install any games on my phone, plus it will give me less or no chances of totally wasting my time on it. But I love Angry Birds! They are just so cute, and the fact that they are angry makes them even more adorable and gives this comical touch to it all :D
And being that this entire concept originated in Finland, no wonder that the Finnish post decided to commemorate them on stamps too (Finland does in general have interesting ideas on what to put on stamps). The video game was created by the Rovio Entertainment company, in 2009 and featured into a movie (that I still havent watched because I am kinda sparing myself some potential disappointment - like it happened with Secret Life of Pets for example.
Also, along with the stamps, cute priority stickers were issued, that I had received on some of my postcards, but which unfortunately, are not shown on this FDC.
Anyways, here on the stamps you can meet, from left to right, top row of stamps: Red (the angriest bird), Stella (the feisty optimist), Bomb (the chill guy).
Bottom row of stamps feature: Chuck, The Blues (the three of a kind, aka Jim, Jake. and Jay) and Leonard (or the bad pig).

How about you? Have you ever been into video games? Are you still into them? Any favourites and guilty pleasures?

And before you leave, don't forget to check more of the A-related stamps for today! 

The 75th Anniversary of Belgrade Zoo, Serbia

Good Day Sunday Stampers and anyone else who might have just stumbled upon today's post. Today we are about to close the circle of the first A-Z edition, with a letter not so popular among word games, but one that would actually bring you a huuuge amount of points if you play 'scrabble' or 'words with friends' etc. Reminds me I should get back to some of those words' games and give my brain cells some additional exercise...

Anyways, I had a few ideas in mind for today's Z, and none of them actually related to Zimbabwe, or Zambia, or Zanzibar (isn't it strange though how all these Z places are situated in Africa?)

So instead of countries, here I have a post with two FDCs issued on 12 July 2011, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Belgrade Zoo.

The Belgrade Zoo originated in 1936 and was founded by Mr. Vlada Ilić, industrialist and mayor of that time. The plans for the zoological garden were drawn up by the engineer Aleksandar Krstić, creator of many buildings and parks in Belgrade those days, who was also the first acting director of the Belgrade Zoo.
At the beginning, the Garden occupied a surface of a little bit more than three and a half hectares while today, after several transformations, it lies on the surface of seven hectares which are located on one part of the Belgrade Fortress, on Kalemegdan, the biggest and most beautiful park in Belgrade (Havent seen all the parks in Belgrade but I do agree this one is beautiful). All the facilities dedicated to the animals are newly built or fully renovated. The garden owns numerous animal species, of more than 2000 animals from 270 different animal species. In addition to many exotic flowers and other vegetation, the Garden also consists of some rare tree species like the Empress tree, Gingko biloba, Picea omorika, Sequoia, etc.
Along with a large number of institutions worldwide, the Belgrade Zoo Garden participates in the programmes for protection and reproduction of endangered animal species. Among many others, some really rare animals are being born and cared for in the Zoo. Some of them are represented on the stamps of this issue, like the Bengal Tiger, the Egyptian Vulture, the Bennett's wallaby, and the White Lion). Here should also be mentioned the Palm Cockatoo, the Griffon Vulture, the Goffin's Cockatoo, the Black Leopard etc.
Nowadays, the Belgrade Zoo represents a real oasis of beauty in the middle of the capital, a respected and modern institution of which this country can be proud and which worthily represents the city and the country across the world. Therefore you should listen to their slogan: "Escape from the city to the centre of the city. Escape for at least a while, from the everyday worries and problems, and spend with us an unforgettable day"  

I have had the chance to visit this place, and I know that many people would say, a Zoo is a Zoo, what can be so different about this one, but I do believe it is worth it to pay a visit. And the ticket price for such a place fairly cheap, around 4 euros. It is funny when I hear some people complaining it is expensive....

That would be all for today. For more Zzzzzzz stuff, visit today's edition of Sunday Stamps.

Golden Age of Sailing Ships, Yugoslavia

Stamps-wise, being a Yugoslav-kid, letter Y is always like an easy solution for me. The difficult part is what in particular to choose from the wide range of Yugoslavian stamps I have :)) (these could also fit in well with the letter J edition though...)

Sailing ships as the means of navigation on the seas were very important in olden times when only the power of winds could be used as a propulsion. Various types of sailing shipsfor commercial and war purposes navigated on the Adriatic Sea. In the old historiography, the Phoenicians were considered as the first seamen. However, later it was proved that the Egyptians had built their ships before them. The Greeks with their ships conquered the isles on the Adriatic coast and founded their colonies. The notion of a war ship at that time was the famous Greek trireme. The Illyrians, especially the Liburnians, who were good ship builders, took part in the maritime commerce on the Adriatic Sea. Their "Liburna is well known in the maritime history. Later the Romans took over the shipbuilding and navigation skills from the Greeks and the Illyrians and then the Roman galley appeared. In the 7th century, the Slavs gradually took possession of the Adriatic coast. The Croatian ships were the only ones which could resist to the Venetian and the Byzantine naval force. In the naval history, Dubrovnik appears in the 8th century and becomes an important military martime and commercial centre with a navy and mercantile shipping, while the shipbuilding also develops at Boka Kotorska where the famous navy of Boka had originated. In the 15th century, Dubrovnik reaches the climax of its naval power. The navas of Dubrovnik - merchant ships on long lines are well known. At the Mediterranean Sea, the French, English, and Dutch ships appear more and more frequently, and they "expel" the ships of Dubrovnik back to the Adriatic Sea. The era of the sailing ships ends with the 19th century, when the steam-ships, modern and more economical, take over the reign of the seas.

This set of six stamps and one souvenir sheet was issued on 10 June 1989.
1. A classic Greek Sailing Ship
2. A Roman Sailing Ship
3. A Crusade Sailing Ship, 13th century
4. Nava of Dubrovnik, 16th century
5. French Sailing Ship, 17th century
6. Sailing Ship, 18th century

s/s - an engraving of Dubrovnik - various sailing ships in the harbour of Dubrovnik and various symbols of Dubrovnik and its surroundings

so that would be the short story of the Yugoslavian sailing ships.

For more stamps related to letter Y, head over to Sunday Stamps.